WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats and Republican lawmakers
in the U.S. Senate on Thursday set the stage for a divisive
energy policy debate with two dueling party-line bills to
combat high gasoline prices.

With Senate Democrats promising to unveil a new proposal to
tame record-high U.S. pump prices averaging $3.60 a gallon on
Friday, Republicans rolled out their proposal that would open a
small portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil
drilling, among other things.

"Talk is cheap, but gas is not," said Senate Minority
Leader Mitch McConnell, flanked by 11 other Republicans.

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The GOP proposal will compete with a Democratic version
which Majority Leader Harry Reid is expected to detail on
Friday.

Reid has said he wants to call a vote on a new energy
package by late May, before lawmakers depart for their home
states for a Memorial Day holiday recess and face voter ire
over gasoline prices.

Both parties seem to agree on a proposal to require the
federal government to stop filling the U.S. emergency crude oil
reserve until oil prices fall from current levels of more than
$110 a barrel.

Beyond that, the Republican plan is heavy on supply-side
ideas which could tap up to 24 billion barrels of new oil
supply. Democrats have traditionally leaned toward demand-side
energy solutions like fuel-efficient cars.

"What we are hearing from the White House and from the
Republicans is the same song, same dance: drill in the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge," said Sen. Patty Murray, Washington
Democrat. "We know we can't drill our way out of this problem."

Several of the Republican proposals -- like ANWR drilling
and opening more offshore areas to drilling -- have been
rejected by the Senate before.

However, Sen. Pete Domenici, New Mexico Republican, said
lawmakers might see things differently now that crude oil
prices have risen more than five-fold since 2002.

"If you voted against it before, take another look at it
with oil at $115 a barrel," Domenici said.

Among other things, the GOP proposal would:

- Allow states to petition the federal government to allow
oil drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts;

- Suspend filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for 180
days;

- Require production of 6 billion gallons of coal-derived
transport fuels by 2022;

- Repeal a 1-year moratorium on drilling in oil shale
regions in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah;

- Repeal previous legislation prohibiting federal agencies
from using alternative fuels that emit more greenhouse gases
than conventional sources, which has been viewed as a de facto
ban on U.S. government use of fuels refined from the Canadian
oil sands.